It had only been a couple days with Athan back, but he was already talking about needing to leave again. I thought this had to do with the XPCA, and told him that from what we knew, with the loss of Micaiah and all of his personal files, and the end of the Defiant, he'd become something of a low priority for them.

He just shook his head at me and looked down with irritation and disgust. "Not them," he said tersely, and that was it.

Well, I wasn't stupid, and knew he must have meant Dragon then, and he was right, this is somewhere Dragon would look for him. But surely not yet, right? I mean, Athan might be bruised and AEGIS might be still less than top shape, if back together enough to begin cooking again (to everyone's dismay)...but from what I heard, Dragon straight-up had his arm ripped off and got lasered by Tem.

Granted he was still chasing them after that, which was...unsettling. But he had to rest at some point, right?

Athan was being moody and mopey again, spending a lot of time in the room which had become his. Whitney had similarly made herself comfortable in the garage, at AEGIS' insistence, Tem was underfoot, Chiho was stuck in her room studying, and Saga was under the tree and in our minds like always. Rito had begun showing up at random to apologize repeatedly to me and to Athan for failing us so utterly; she was bawling her eyes out and forcing me to take my money back which was the only reason I couldn't be mad at her.

Because yeah, she did sort of completely screw up by letting Athan go like that. She did exactly what I didn't pay her to do, and he almost died as a result.

It wasn't long before word got out about Athan, Dragon, and the Defiant, and Moon was showing up for one of her weird social visits to just sit in the corner and ignore everyone. So it was gonna be a pretty full house. That was what I thought before I opened the door, expecting Moon.

"Heya, Lia!" said Tower with a grin as he filled the doorframe. Before I could move out of his way, he'd reached forward with arms as big as my torso and wrapped me in a hug that lifted my feet off the ground.

"Tower, what are you doing here?" I beamed at him. From this new, higher vantage, I could see Moon standing exactly in the center of the doormat, and Jack behind her with a friendly smile and hand upright in greeting.

"Steffie apologies that she could not come," Jack said as Tower put me down.

"My apologies as well," I heard Moon's small deadpan voice from behind Tower's legs. "It was not my intention to bring these two along, but they insisted. They do not seem to have any concept of courtesy."

"It's fine," I said, still beaming despite the little Japanese raincloud. "What are you all doing here though?"

"What last we heard, Athan was a traitor and turncoat," Moon continued. "We are here to capture him on behalf of the XPCA."

All three of us looked at her with creeping confusion. She seemed to shrink and sweat at the attention.

"Joudan. It is a joke. This is a social visit."

"Damn girl, you scare me," Tower laughed. "Sometimes I think I've got you pegged and then you pull shit like that."

"It is because I do not hesitate to do what is necessary," she intoned. "You fear that one day my values will not align with yours."

"Uh...I mean...I wasn't gonna try to figure it out, but maybe?"

"Anyway, come inside--" I said, backing out of the doorway to let Tower through before Moon could say anything else bizarre. "Um, you guys hungry? We've got so many people here, definitely sounding like pizza."

"Who else is here?" Jack asked, and I saw his smile fluctuate oddly. "Ah, the Code-X. I should pay a visit."

"AEGIS is in the garage with Whitney, she's new. She's super smart."

"Athan's got another girlfriend?" Tower laughed as he opened the fridge. "No beer?"

"Sorry, dry house," I shrugged. "She actually kinda...hates him. Or doesn't. I don't know. He kidnapped her, and she might have Stockholm Syndrome," I laughed. "She's just really skittish and quiet around him like she thinks he's going to jump over and bite her, but then is always asking about him."

"Actually sounds quite normal," Jack said. "Exhumans are feared but fascinating to most. He may have proven himself less worthy of fear, but I imagine there are still lingering doubts."

"Yeah, so maybe don't bring up the owers-pay to her, and you'll probably get along fine." I pulled at my lip for a moment. "Actually...if you guys don't mind, maybe do mention it. She might like Athan better if she realizes Exhumans aren't all bad."

"Certainly," Moon said. "Who does not enjoy traumatizing an innocent from time to time?"

"Well don't like, use your powers to kill her family or anything," I said, getting drinks for our guests of the juice and soda variety. "Anyway, go say hi, let Athan know you're here, go…" I looked at Jack "...mingle with Saga? I guess this is a party now."

"Did I hear party?" Chiho's voice said, and she appeared in the doorway in her indecent sleepwear. I'm pretty sure she managed to bolt away before the other three turned and saw her.

The place was lively as heck with the rest of the P-Force over, and it just felt like there were people everywhere. We'd crossed some magical threshold where running into others was a statistical certainty, so stuff was just going on everywhere. I wandered around with a cup of orange juice just taking it all in.

Jack and Saga were in the backyard talking seriously about Blackett, it sounded like. Well, Jack was serious, Saga was just hinting to me the second I showed up that any kind of real party centered around food, and that she had never once tried hot wings.

"I am attempting to converse seriously," Jack sighed at her yet again.

"Yeah, and you're being a real wet blanket about it," Saga replied. "I already told you, I didn't know anything about your buddy's plans when I visited him. Obviously."

"I merely wish to avoid a repeat of that disaster," Jack fumed uncharacteristically. "Steffie was very nearly hurt and suffered emotionally, because of my misplaced faith."

"You also want to apologize to me," Saga grinned. "For not being cooperative when I was looking for info on Mage. You think if we worked together, this could have all been avoided."

"I am certainly less disposed towards an apology when you lift it from my mind, but yes. I am also curious how the XPCA managed to incapacitate one such as you in the first place."

"It was fucking AEGIS," Saga said with a lazy stretch. "Not this one, not the old one either, the other one."

"TARGA?"

"Yeah. Her. Blackett had the prototype unit for her in his bedroom and she jumped me. I wonder what he was doing with her in there, huh?"

"I...prefer not to wonder," Jack said. "Still...a very unfortunate series of events--"

I wandered off, not ever really being part of the conversation and feeling awkward standing in the periphery of it. I had just gotten away when someone yelled at me in my mind.

[I was serious about the hot wings!]

Not in front of Whitney, you dumb-bunny! I thought back, and saw Saga laughing through the window. Still, food was important, and hot wings did sound good right now. Not that I could order anything else with the compel.

I did it over a mobile site so I could keep wandering. Moon and Chiho were in the living room, where it looked suspiciously like one had roped the other into helping with homework, as Moon patiently explained some concept to Chiho from a book I'm sure she'd never touched before.

The garage was packed, and standing around the quiet, idle machines were a bunch of noisy, active people. Tower was telling a story as it seemed he always was, and it seemed to require a lot more gesturing than even I tended towards. Whitney was standing awkwardly in the corner on her mobile but obviously listening more than reading, and AEGIS and Tem were laughing at most everything Tower had to say.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Where's Athan?" I asked Tem, definitely the best source, even if her laughing sounded fake as hell right now.

"He kicked me out," she said with a small frown. "I'm s-sorry, I might have messed up."

"What did you do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. People were arriving, and I s-s-said I thought people were arriving to Chariot, and he s-said I s-s-should go out and have a nice time with them. I told him I would rather be with him, and he just pushed me out the door. I am s-s-sorry. I made a mistake again, s-so now I am trying to do what he told me."

I sighed. Impossible little girl. I gave her an affectionate pat on the head, but she recoiled like I was going to hit her so...I stopped that.

"I think Athan just wants you to have a nice time," I told her. "I don't think he's mad."

"He told me to do s-s-something and I talked back to him. I am a horrible person. I do not deserve him."

"It's fine," I said soothingly. "I know him pretty well and I can tell you he's not upset, okay?"

She looked at me in the eyes for a moment, and I realized it was the first time she'd ever done that. Kinda weird. Little watery-blue eyes, almost silver as her hair. Then she shook her head and turned away. "I have to have a nice time with them. Chariot s-said to. Goodbye."

I made a note that any time I thought my depression was bad, I always had Tem to look down to. I didn't know how she tied her shoes in the morning. But one thing was clear, Athan was still being a mopey bitch in the bedroom instead of hanging out with his friends, and that was criminal.

I stomped down the hallway to drag his stupid butt out of his stupid room and make him be happy, but stopped outside at an unfamiliar sound within. It sounded like...grunting, and...meat slapping? The same sounds over and over. I paused just for a second, before opening the door to resume my plan.

"Your friends are here, dummy, go talk to them," I announced as I entered. The blinds were drawn and the light off, but it still was far from dark in here. Athan was sitting on the bed, back to the door, hunched over his holo. He seemed too preoccupied to hear me, so I went closer to see what he was watching.

It was a holovid of him fighting Dragon, I realized, and by the slight color shift and fisheyeing, I recognized it as one of AEGIS' memories immediately.

It was...not a good video, and went a long way to explaining where all Athan's bruises came from. They'd told me what had happened but...watching the video loop...Athan getting pummelled again and again, and again...and again…

"Jesus, you didn't say it was that bad," I whispered.

"Lia?" He fumbled and put away his mobile. "Lia, Jesus. You snuck up on me."

"That should have killed you," I said, pulling it back out and watching it again. "Nobody can take that kind of punishment."

He put his hand over the holo, images of him being destroyed flickering between his fingers. "I didn't want you to worry. I'm fine."

"How, though? This is just...brutal."

"Nanomachines, apparently. From Taglock. Thank you for sending him, by the way."

I let go of the holo and let Athan pocket it finally. Thank God I'd done that one thing right. Taglock got in touch with me again and reimbursed me for what I'd paid him less costs, citing a failure. I'd wondered how he managed to spend several millions of credits on 'costs', but the nanomachines would explain it. I decided to pay him again -- he had saved Athan's life.

With the distraction gone, I resumed my original aim. "Athan, let's go out there. Moon and Tower and Jack are all here, you should say hi to them. Relax a little."

He made a snorting noise and pulled out his mobile again.

"Bro, I am serious."

"So am I."

"What, seriously addicted to your mobile?"

He glared at me. "Relax a little? Do you think Dragon's relaxing a little? Do you think the Defiant can relax a little?"

"Good thing you aren't any of them? You're not some Sino nutbag, and you're not a desperate Exhuman who set himself up to be public enemy number one. It's almost like their actions had consequences."

"You don't understand, Lia. To you, it's just some images on a screen." He held the holo up again and of course, he had the savage beatdown playing again. "I was there. I could have done something. Instead, I couldn't do anything." He hesitated for a moment. "Lia, for a second, I thought you were there. I heard the rifle and thought it was you. I thought Dragon was coming right for you and...and I…"

His voice broke.

"I couldn't do anything!" he blubbered. "My own...own sister!"

I froze. I hadn't expected this in any way to suddenly turn into being about me. Like he'd just blown right through my armor, I felt myself falling fast. Whatever residual elation there was outside this room, knowing that in here, Athan was beating himself up over me just obliterated it.

"It's okay," I said, knowing how useless those words always were. "It's okay. I'm fine. I'm smart enough to stay out of trouble, right? That's why I sent Taglock?"

"Dragon's coming, Lia. He's coming until he gets his toy. And this time, you're in the crosshairs too."

"Then just...blow it up. Throw it in a bank somewhere. Drop it in the ocean, or hell, a volcano."

"And what, send Dragon a postcard saying 'I blew up your thing, leave me alone'? You think he'll just stop because I broke it? To say nothing of what breaking it might entail. This is a completely unknown device which belonged to a technopath. For all we know, it might be a bomb that if you throw it into a volcano, it blows up the world."

"Well that would just be stupid to make, wouldn't it?"

"Did you meet Mini?"

"Fair point."

He settled in to beat himself up while watching himself getting beaten up, and I found motivation and reason fleeing from me in a way I knew was dangerous. If Athan was going to just sit there, I could curl up in my bed too, and stop bothering him and everybody. It was a stupid idea to drag him out there anyway, I thought.

No. I must always keep trying.

I tasted blood as I slapped myself, and wished I'd held back a little when I felt the cut in my cheek.

"Lia? What the fuck?" Athan said, getting to his feet and gingerly touching my face. "What did you do that for?"

"For attention, obviously," I beamed at him. "Gonna keep it up if you don't get out there and play with me."

"You're gonna...keep hitting yourself?"

"Well, you seem fine with beating yourself up, so I thought I'd try it a little."

"Seriously, Lia, what the fuck."

It hadn't been planned, but it had still somehow worked. Athan was unsteady enough that just grabbing his arm and pulling him along moved him without resistance, and as soon as I got him within range of Tower, the big, glorious man wrapped Athan in a hug from which he'd never be able to escape.

I sent Jack out to pick up our food, and timed it so that Athan was stuck in the middle of the commotion there just as he was slipping away. He sat sullen and quiet as anything, but still there, still listening to his friends chatter and still being there with them. Even if right now all he wanted was to hide and brood…

...Well, I knew how important it was to force yourself to have positive experiences even if you didn't want them. Even if Athan's problems were real, even if Dragon was on his way here now, at least I could give him this. Maybe next time he was fumbling around in the dark, he might remember the happiness to be found here, and it might lead him back towards the light a little.

For my part, I stayed distant. It was hypocritical of me, I knew, but I didn't want to have to deal with Athan when he was worrying about me. It just hurt too much.

So in that way, we both managed to have a decent time, I think. Athan and Jack became immersed in a discussion about strategies, as Jack was now acting lead of the P-Force. Somehow, Saga wound up cramming food into Tower's mouth for him which was enough of a spectacle that even Moon put her book down to watch with thinly-veiled disgust. Tem moved from group to group laughing too loudly at everything, which was as disturbing as it was hilarious.

As things were winding down, I sidled up to Whitney, who'd avoided the heart of the party the whole time, and eaten sparingly.

"What do you think?" I asked her.

"There's so...many," she said with some obvious consternation. "I thought two was a lot when it was just Athan and Tem but...six? This is completely unheard-of in history, isn't it?"

"Probably," I shrugged. "And the only thing being demolished is the pizza and wings. Fancy that, huh?"

"I don't understand," she said with obvious irritation at that phrase. "Nothing I've ever seen...or read...or heard explains this. This is not Exhuman behavior. Athan was a danger. And so are each of these. How are you not freaking out?"

I grinned at her. "They might be dangerous, but believe me when I say this is probably the safest place on Earth right now. If there were an earthquake, a fire, a burglar...hell, a meteor...who do you think is equipped to deal with it? Who do you think they'd protect?"

"But they're not supposed to be...having a party. They're selfish, animalistic, violent--"

"Stop reading so much and look. These things right in front of you, those people, those are Exhumans without all the bullshit and propaganda and years and years of built-up hate. What you're seeing isn't an act, it's just people. They've got no reason to pretend right now, no reason to lie. But I bet if you thought about it for a minute, you'd see the history books have plenty of reason to."

She frowned and fiddled with her glasses on her face, but seemed to be listening at least. I didn't know why this girl's approval was so important to Athan, but it might just be something else I could give him. I felt like it was hardly enough, given what he was out there doing, but it was what I had to give.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"For what?"

"For when we first spoke. And I told you that you should have stuck with your parents instead of Athan."

"It's fine."

"I just didn't know they were bad."

I turned to look at her. Impressively tall, thin, black hair with faded streaks in it down to her shoulders. Streaks of grease on her exposed legs and arms still, from working in the garage.

I wanted to really bitch her out. I wanted to tell her that she was bigoted and stupid for believing that every human was good and every Exhuman was bad. In my time here since Athan turned, I'd met good and bad, human and Exhuman alike, and I hadn't gotten the luxury of a classy introduction at a party.

But I didn't. I reminded myself that Whitney...probably wasn't a bad person. She was a normal person, a product of her upbringing. Athan had mentioned quietly that her family was all gone from an Exhuman event, that she adored routine, that she wasn't confrontational by nature. All of which would just make it harder for her to accept that her world wasn't as simple as she thought it was.

I threaded my fingers in hers and she visibly tensed at the sudden, unexpected contact.

"What...is this?" she asked. I grinned impishly.

"I think you've coddled the wallpaper enough tonight. Things are winding down, let's go have a conversation with everyone at least."